The standard Phi: all very good and one can hardly find fault with any of the clues, some of which are nice.
I’m not quite sure what the theme is: there are many Australian towns dotted around the grid, and also several Scottish ones, and Perth could be either, but is there anything further?
Definitions in italics.
Across
1 Board covers intricate stuff in backing authorisation (5,4)
PLACE MATS
Nice definition that isn’t immediately obvious — lace in (stamp)rev.
6 Ruined position upset United supporters (5)
SNAFU
(U fans)rev. — not many words end in U, which I had, so this was a matter of reverse-engineering
9 I brought in ream, after pulping source of paper (5)
RAMIE
I in (ream)* — not a ‘source of paper’ (so a tree incorrectly expected) that was familiar, but I’d just about heard of it and once the checkers were there it couldn’t really be anything else. This source of fibre.
10 Scottish city racket, returning food – what about that? (9)
EDINBURGH
(din (grub)rev.) in eh — eh = what, a crossword staple and slowly I’m coming to expect it every time
11 The England Earl’s sadly doing for fairytale characters (6,3,6)
HANSEL AND GRETEL
(The England Earl’s)* — helped by the enumeration
13 Restaurant employees, one brought in to cover wines (6,2)
MAITRE DS
ma(1)t reds — when you see (6,2) the obvious thing is to look for a two-letter word and this is therefore not obvious. Should it not be maitres d? Perhaps not, Chambers doesn’t tell us.
14 Carton, possibly, to finish back behind yard in Seychelles (6)
SYDNEY
(y (end)rev.) in Sy — ref Sydney Carton
16 Victorian scientist to gamble mostly and succeed (6)
DARWIN
dar{e} win
18 Capital city, location of miracle involving Bible’s original sin (8)
CANBERRA
Can(B{ible} err)a — ref the place where Jesus turned water into wine
21 Crude or rough depiction as thus? (15)
UNSOPHISTICATED
(depiction as thus)*
23 This writer and lecturer, prefacing book on our Tyneside PM of former days (9)
MELBOURNE
me l b our NE
25 Study? Unproductive to include only one-third of basics (5)
LEARN
lea(R)n — only one-third of basics is R, not the three Rs
26 Puzzle/ solver resident in 10? (5)
REBUS
2 defs — Inspector Rebus solved most of his cases around Edinburgh
27 Critic: “It’s penny that should be contained in pound” (3-6)
NIT-PICKER
n(it p)icker
Down
1 Forward with introduction of haggis in Scottish city (5)
PERTH
pert h{aggis}
2 Toppled tree remains in a French town (11)
ARMENTIERES
(tree remains)*
3 It helps to observe English tree getting attention (7)
EYEWEAR
E yew ear
4 Former Queen initially arrived after due time, we hear (8)
ADELAIDE
a{rrived} “delayed” — Queen Adelaide
5 Somewhat reflective about Democratic Party (6)
SHINDY
shin(D)y — shindy and shindig have two separate references in Chambers and only a shindig is said to be a party, although they are no doubt very similar in meaning
6 Cry, with lyre playing without extravagance (7)
SOBERLY
sob (lyre)*
7 Amount of sun runs down in Scottish town (3)
AYR
ray with r [= runs] moved down to the bottom
8 University pay changes, bringing in dire situation, leading to a fired-up procession (2-5-2)
UP-HELLY-AA
Peculiarly easy once you know that an Up-Helly-something exists, because the enumeration was helpful and it had to begin with u, so was only a matter of checking in the dictionary — u hell in (pay)* a
12 Academic process: take current positions in a new way (6,5)
TENURE TRACK
(take current)* —not something I’d heard of but it’s there
13 Tory politician cornered by silent performer in heated period (9)
MIDSUMMER
m(IDS)ummer — Iain Duncan Smith
15 Harm almost all matter? (8)
MALTREAT
(al{l} matter)*, &lit.
17 Like Emperor dismissing the Queen? That’s irreverent (7)
IMPIOUS
imp{ER}ious
19 Book’s account regarding diseased state: one lot of germs? (7)
BACILLI
B ac ill 1 — ill as a noun I think: an ill is an illness or diseased state, but this doesn’t account for regarding; is it just a link-word?
20 A small distance, minimum that will accommodate Crown Office’s opening (6)
MICRON
mi(cr o{ffice})n
22 Name inscribed in gateway identifies supporter (5)
DONOR
do(n)or
24 Experimental area, area surrounded by pound (3)
LAB
l(a)b — lb = pound (weight)
*anagram
Another enjoyable Phi puzzle. I had solved EDINBURGH and PERTH before any of the other cities so thought the theme was going to be Scottish, and UP-HELLY-AA had seemed to confirm that. When the other Australian cities started to appear I realised that there was probably more going on than I thought. TENURE TRACK was my LOI.
Thank you, John.
I guess the theme is Australian towns and cities? The Scottish ones seem also have their equivalents in Oz. In which case, MELBOURNE resonated with me, because it’s a delightful Derbyshire village where I’ve spent many a Saturday afternoon playing cricket; and the Australian city is apparently named after it. Google it if you don’t believe me.
And I did know UP-HELLY-AA, but I can’t remember why, if that makes sense. Perhaps I should just expand on John’s explanation of 6ac: SNAFU is an acronym for Situation Normal All Fouled Up. Or something like that.
Well done, Phi – another fine Friday puzzle.
Bonjour from Paris (splendid Bill Viola exhibition at the Grand Palais – also a Caesar Augustus one we.re off to next).
Find the final city to confirm Oz or Scots…
John, you have me a bit confused: in 6 you say “…not many words end in U, which I had,” and then in 8 you say “…it had to begin with u,” so which word *did* you get first which made you sure of the u in that spot?
Thanks for the write-up – I had trouble parsing quite a few in this one (and didn’t get two at all, including 8), so it was great to find them all explained so well.
@Phi – I think Darwin clinches it in favour of Australia.
Google reveals that there is an AYR in Oz, so I guess that DARWIN settles it for Oz.
CoD was SNAFU, which, as I seem to remember an older edition of Chambers delightfully put it, comes from Situation Normal All Fouled (euphemism) UP. More recent editions are less coy.
Thanks, Phi and John
Sorry, Abhay, you got in there while I was still typing.
Abhay @4 – I’m guessing the blogger knew that 8d started with ‘U’ not because he already had 6ac but because the clue begins with ‘University’ which usually signifies ‘u’ (and was unlikely, given the enumeration to be the definition). Hope that helps.
Haven’t seen that final city spotted yet…
Ooh…Ooh! Initial letters of first four Across clues, followed by initial letters of final four Down clues!
At last I spotted one! 🙂
Phi…….you rascal!
Definitely a love/hate relationship. I love that you brighten my Fridays, I love it when there’s a Nina or some other hidden verbal gimcrack, but I hate not being able to find it!
Well, you master of elusion, should we be seeking Hobart….?
Limeni:
Bravissimo! I should have reread blog before my post. I had seen the BRIS – looked for TOL but not BANE!
Silly me, clever you!!
Thanks WFP…although the cleverness is obviously Phi’s for managing to slip that in!
It must be frustrating for a setter to be so clever and then none of us even notice! (…without a big hint).
Limeni:
I’m not so sure. I’ve a vision of a be-bereted Phi smiling smugly at OUR frustration! (while tucking into his croissant)
Haha…yes, maybe you’re right. Except he’s in the UK at the moment, so more likely tucking into an evening snifter than early morning NZ croissant and Flat White!
@spb: Thank you – that does make sense!
Oops, sorry…just realised that post 3 was from Phi in Paris. So, scratch post 15! (We need the facility to edit our posts when we’ve been dim!).
Sorry to be late postingbut we only had 30mins free wifi yesterday!
Back home now!
An enjoyable solve – thanks Phi – glad to see that you are enjoying Paris! Thanks to John as well, we needed you for 1ac which was our LOI when our solving time ran out this morning!
Yes Abhay — when I said ‘It had to begin with u’ I did indeed mean (as spb@8 surmised) that the first letter was almost certainly u because of the word university in the clue. I should have been clearer.